Biden 'vows to end to Gaza war, return hostages' before presidential term ends: report

US President Joe Biden has reportedly pledged to "end Israel’s war in Gaza and ensure the return of the remaining hostages" held in the territory, during the final months of his presidential term.

Biden, who dropped out of the presidential race over the weekend, is expected to meet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Washington a day after the premier delivers a speech in Congress on Wednesday.

The meeting will take place on Thursday, a US official told Axios on Tuesday, despite Biden's Covid-19 diagnosis.

The two are likely to discuss efforts to reach a ceasefire agreement in Gaza, as well as a hostage release deal, while an Israeli delegation is expected in Qatar, which has played a key mediator role, on the same day to negotiate an agreement with Hamas.

According to Axios, the 81-year-old US president said he is going to "continue working with the Israelis and the Palestinians to reach a hostage and ceasefire deal in Gaza" and his team are "on the verge of getting that", Axios reported.

Biden has sixth months left to serve as president with Americans heading to the polls to elect a new leader in November who will take office in January.

Earlier this month, President Biden warned Netanyahu in a call that it was "time to close" a deal between Israel and Hamas, as the devastating war on Gaza continues.

The US president had set out a framework for a "three-phase" ceasefire deal in late May, working with international mediators to hammer it out despite several setbacks.

Israel has been waging a deadly military offensive in the Gaza Strip for over nine months, killing at least 39,090 Palestinians as of Tuesday, with homes, schools, and hospitals targeted and destroyed.

Its military campaign in Gaza has plunged the territory into a dire humanitarian crisis, where food, shelter, medicine and basic needs are increasingly scarce.

Biden previously met with Netanyahu in Israel following the Hamas attacks on 7 October with the US providing billions of dollars’ worth of weapons as well as political support. Tensions between the two, however, have come to the surface, particularly over the Israeli military's conduct in Gaza, its attack on Rafah and Netanyahu's opposition to a two-state solution to the conflict.

While in the US, the Israeli premier told some of the captives’ families that "the conditions for a hostage deal are ripening" and that an agreement "could be soon nearing", Reuters reported on Tuesday.

One of the hostages' parents, however, told the Israeli Army Radio that he would be taking Netanyahu’s words "with a pinch of salt", amid Israeli criticism of the PM’s handling of the hostage situation.

The army says 120 hostages remain in Gaza, with around a third of them presumed dead. 

Netanyahu is also due to meet Vice President Kamala Harris, who is seeking the Democratic presidential nomination following Biden's withdrawal.

Harris will not be presiding over the Senate chamber at Congress when Netanyahu delivers his speech on Wednesday, The Washington Post said, though she is likely to meet Netanyahu later on in the week, the VP’s aide said.

"We anticipate the vice president will convey her view that it is time for the war to end in a way where Israel is secure, all hostages are released, the suffering of Palestinian civilians in Gaza ends, and the Palestinian people can enjoy their right to dignity, freedom, and self-determination," the aide added.

He said, however, that Harris remains "committed to the security of Israel".